Scrambling at Scrabble
by Neuropsych
Summary: Just a quick glimpse of why free time never relaxes Jack (PG)


Author's Note: Just a quickie while I decide what to write next, or if I decided to step back and take a breather and keep the Campers! series from getting stale. One-shot deal, and as a disclaimer, I don't own anything in this story except the conversation.

_Scrambling at Scrabble_

"Jack..."

"What?"

"'_Yesir'_ isn't a word."

"Yes it is."

Sam sighed, "No it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

Daniel scowled. "No, it isn't."

"It is."

"It isn't."

"Teal'c?"

"I believe Major Carter is correct, O'Neill. I have never heard the word before."

"Yeah... well, you're an _alien_. There's probably lots of words you haven't heard."

"Pick them up and try again, Jack."

"But it's a word!"

"Use it in a sentence," Daniel challenged.

Jack frowned, thinking, then shrugged. "When the General tells me what to do I say _yesir_."

Sam rolled her eyes, and Daniel looked at him like he'd grown another pair of ears.

"No."

"Awww, come on...."

"No."

Grumbling, Jack picked the tiles up from the Scrabble board and put them back on his little tray. Sam and Daniel exchanged a look as they waited for him to decide what word he was going to make. Sam didn't even understand why Jack bothered to invite them over for the occasional night of board games, since he almost always ended up trying to cheat at them. He wasn't any better at _cheating_ at Scrabble than he was at _playing_ Scrabble, much to Daniel's amusement.

"How about using the R from Teal'c's word there, and making '_riser'_?" Daniel suggested.

Jack shot Daniel a look of annoyance. "I don't need your help, Daniel."

The archeologist shrugged.

"It was just a suggestion."

"Well... hush. I'm trying to think here."

They all watched him as he stared at the tiles on his tray for another long moment. Then stared some more. Just as Daniel was about to suggest another word – at the risk of being snapped at – Jack shrugged.

"I guess I'll use Teal'c's R and make _riser_."

Sam smiled.

"Good idea."

Daniel rolled his eyes.

Jack put the tiles down and drew out more tiles from the bag and arranged them on his tray. Before he even had them settled, Sam had already made her next word, and it was Teal'c's turn. By the time Jack had decided that he could use the E in riser to make the word 'the', Teal'c had used the E to make his own word – Equate. Jack scowled and glared at the Jaffa while Teal'c gathered new tiles from the bag, but Teal'c didn't even seem to notice. Or he was ignoring him, which was probably closer to the actuality.

Jack had just about decided that the T in Equate could be used to make 'tea' when Daniel used it to make 'elastic'. Jack frowned again, and Sam couldn't help but smile. She didn't know what was going inside that head of his, but it was fun to watch the emotions flicker back and forth while they played. He looked over at her, and caught her smiling at him, and was going to make a comment, when he decided that she was really too cute to gripe at just then.

He sighed, and looked at the board, resting his head in his hands and his elbows on the table. A few minutes later, Daniel sighed, and cleared his throat.

"Jack?"

"What?"

"You _do_ know it's your turn, right?"

He hadn't, but he did now, and there was no way he was going to admit that he wasn't paying attention.

"Of _course_ I do, Daniel. I'm just... trying to figure out where to go next."

Yeah... where _to_ go next...? He studied the board a little closer now – it was his turn, after all.

"Ah hah!"

He set down five tiles, grinning triumphantly, and Sam sighed.

"_Verra_ isn't a word, either."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not," Daniel said.

"It is."

"Isn't."

"Is."

"Isn't."

"Aww, come on... Scotty used to say it all the time on Star Trek." Jack put on his best Scottish brogue. "'Captin, it's gettin' verra bad down here!" He looked at them, hopefully.

Sam and Daniel looked at each other, then at Teal'c, who was staring at Jack. Finally, they looked back at Jack, and they both shook their heads.

"No."

Mumbling, Jack picked up the tiles and put them back on the tray.

"Who's dumb idea was this game, anyways?"

"Yours."

"We should have played video games..."

"You said you didn't want to, because Teal'c always beats you."

"Daniel, hush."


End file.
